What’s Hot on Social: Security and privacy update

Millions of users access social networks every day in order to share, engage, and look for information as well as entertainment. The transparency of social networks come with a risk and we very often expose ourselves to hackers and scammers that can take advantage of information we share. Social platforms constantly improve security and privacy settings, to deliver a safe experience to the users, but who has time to follow all this news? Well, you can relax and rely on us. AVAST specialists are here to deliver this information in an accessible way.

Last month we prepared a security and privacy update following the most important changes on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. Check what has changed since than to enjoy a secure social media experience!

Facebook updated its Privacy policy

At the end of August, Facebook chief privacy officer Erin Egan published an official blog post, as a response to rumors and extensive discussion on the company’s Data Use Policy. One of the biggest concerns were related to how Facebook displays our data to its clients advertising on the social network. Currently pages can target us even by our name.

Advertisers may also be able to reach you on Facebook using the information they already have about you (such as email addresses or whether you have visited their websites previously).

#AVASTtip: There is not much space for us users to really influence it, but Facebook is open to user feedback. If you would like to comment or express your opinion, you can do it here .

Facebook can´t prevent children from lying about their age

Last month Facebook introduced anti-bullying features. Focusing on young, inexperienced users, Facebook prepared new features designed to help them respond to unwanted content and cyber-bullying. The question is how does the social media giant actually recognize the real age of its users? In order to be eligible to sign up for Facebook, you must be at least 13 years old. According to research, 40% of Facebook users declaring to be over 18, are actually under age. Well, Mark Zuckerberg and his folks don’t have an answer to it yet.

#AVASTtip: If you have underage kids, check if they have a Facebook profile, and make sure that they provide their age accordingly.

Safer log in to your Twitter account

Twitter rolled out new log in verification and approval log in requests to its mobile users. The functionality is available on iOS and for Android users.

No phone number required: By using push messaging and in-application approvals, you no longer need to provide your phone number to use log in verification. If you manage multiple Twitter accounts, but only have one phone number, you can now opt all of them into log in verification.

Store the generated backup code in a safe place. You will use this code if you need to access your account when you don’t have your phone.

After you enroll in log in verification, you’ll use the Twitter application to approve requests each time you sign in to twitter.com with your username and password.

#AVASTtip: Use log in verification, in order to prevent someone hacking your account. This is strongly recommended, especially for Community Managers.

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